


irony

by chemicalroses



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gajevy - Freeform, Gruvia - Freeform, M/M, Nalu - Freeform, Original Character(s), Originally Posted on Tumblr, ftnewgen, jerza - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 06:51:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4656852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemicalroses/pseuds/chemicalroses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gray is not ready to let his daughter start dating. Natsu, however, is more than ready to let his son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I originally posted this on tumblr and will keep posting on tumblr (@mangaplease), but will also be uploading here. Also, Annette's name has been changed to Gwen. Please enjoy!   
> Note- No original FT characters belong to me other than the newgens.

In the Fairy Tail guild, Natsu wasn’t known to be the most responsible person. He constantly forgot things, put them off, then dumped the unwanted tasks on another person; mainly Lucy. He was like this for nearly everything, but when it came to his children, he was moderately confident about his care-taking skills. Until, of course, his sixteen year old son decided to bring up dating. Natsu certainly did not expect that.

Igi, who insisted on going by Ig, was the elder of the two Dragneel children, and took after his mother more than he did his father; unlike his six year old brother Jude, who was an exact replica of Natsu minus the enormous brown eyes he inherited from his mom. Another child was on the way; Lucy was about three months pregnant and everyone was beginning to tell.

Igi was very similar to Lucy physically with blond hair, though he had his father’s eyes and a similar build. He was cocky and pretty confident in his looks, and he was known to be a troublemaker around town. Some girls were attracted to him, which only boosted his confidence; however, he was a little bit like both of his parents when it came to acting on his feelings. He had never really been with a girl before, even though they sometimes threw themselves at him. Even though he was a rulebreaker , he had a heart. He loved his family and the guild, and put up absolutely no bullshit when it came to battles. He always tried hard to do live up to his father’s legacy as “Salamander”, and he made it clear that talking about his personal life was a red flag. This made it all the more strange when he ignored his own fragile guideline, walked into the kitchen, and said;

“Dad, I may have a date tonight.”

Natsu, who had previously been flipping a pancake on the stove for Jude, and Lucy, who had been applying lipstick, both had similar reactions to his outburst. They both whipped around so fast that the lipstick was smudged, and the pancake was thrown out of the pan; causing to Jude to yelp as it had smacked him in the face.

“ _What?!_ ” Lucy yelped, her face turning a bright shade of crimson. She had been preparing herself for this moment for a long time, and cursed herself for choking.

“Y-yeah, and I want to talk to dad,” Igi avoided both of their gazes and stared at the floor. Lucy nodded frantically and ran over to grab the crying Jude, who was still holding the burnt pancake. They left the kitchen soon after and left the still awestruck Natsu and his son together, with no interruptions.

“So, uh…”

“ _Wait_!” Natsu snapped out of it and threw the pan into the sink so hard that it dented. He internally winced, knowing that Lucy was NOT going to be happy with him for that.

“Huh?”

“My son has a date… My son is sixteen…” He stammered, “Holy shit, I’m  _old_!”

“Dad, please!” Igi rolled his eyes, trying very hard not to walk away from this confrontation. Natsu laughed a little.

“Sorry, it’s just shocking. You’ve never shown any interest in dating before.” He said. “So what do you want to know?”

Igi coughed a little to try and mask his discomfort.

“Well, she’s into really romantic stuff, so if the date is really happening I want to make sure she’s impressed. I had absolutely no original ideas. So… D-do you want to tell me about your first date?”

Natsu winced again, remembering the dinner date that first unintentionally turned into a double date with Gajeel and Levy, and then into a one on one battle between dragon slayers. The restaurant was burnt to the ground and their girls were pissed at the two of them for days. So, he decided to tell his son about the _second_ date.

“I took her to the lake to watch the sunset. It was actually Happy’s idea, he took Charla there first.” He smiled at the memory, “She brought some food and we stayed up there for hours. It was great.”

He paused.

“Wait, what do you mean  _if_ the date is really happening?”

Igi ignored the question, and groaned.

“Um...”

“Ig, you can talk to me about it.” Natsu said very cautiously. He knew his son. One false movement meant game over—he’d suddenly start being a teenager and regress into wherever he last was and never talk to him or Lucy for days.

“Her dad sort of hates me. And you.”

Natsu suddenly felt sick.

“Um, Ig?”

“Hmm?”

“Who is this girl that you like?”

To this, Igi stiffened.

Game over.

“You know what, it doesn’t even matter. Thanks for talking, but I have to—“

“Oh, no way in hell.” Natsu sent a small flame over to the boy that grazed his upper arm. Igi caught the fire with his left hand and extinguished it, stopping in his tracks.

“Who is it?” He asked again.

_Please don’t be her. Please don’t let her be his daughter, please. Anyone but her. I don’t want to have that conversation with him. Please please please please—_

“Gwen Fullbuster.” Igi whispered before rushing out of the house, leaving Natsu paralyzed in his place.

…

 Some people thought of Gray as an over protective parent. Over protective was a perfect description when it came to his children’s safety during battles, everyday life and their well-being in general. But with his daughter, it was a drastic understatement when it came to dating.

He and Juvia  had three children, two boys and a girl, and he wanted nothing more than their happiness, but he was just not ready for his only daughter to run around with self-obsessed perverts that would just break her heart and leave her alone. Gray often had a reoccurring vision of her standing on the side of the road, pregnant, an alcoholic, depressed, smoking, doing drugs, and then dying. It was morbid, and he had to shake the image out of his head every time he thought about it.

“…And  _that_  is why you aren’t allowed to date until you’re 27.”

“But dad, there is absolutely no way that I am or will get pregnant by going on one date, I’ve never drank or done any drugs, and I am positive I won’t die.” Gwen argued her point after listening yet again to the lecture she received every time she brought up boys. Her mother, being the romantic that she was known as, was often on her daughter’s side, but she backed out of the room every time the conversation started getting too stressful for her to manage. She was spending all of her time dealing with their two year old son, Ur, anyway, so she always had an excuse to get out while she could.

“Please dad?” She pleaded and blushed a little, “I really like him, and I think he likes me, too.”  

Gray looked at his daughter. She had taken up ice magic, though she had the option to turn her body to water like her mother. She was beautiful, like Juvia, with long curly dark hair and crystal blue eyes that neither of her parents possessed. She was very kind and innocent, which also made her gullible and naïve.

“I know, I know you think that, but boys are actually really horrible. They don’t grow up until they’re old, and they’ll play you and toy with you until then.” He felt his heart beat ten times faster when Gwen looked looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

“I know you say that, but he’s never given me any reason to doubt him. I’ve known him forever. I mean, did you do any of those things to mom?” She asked in a whisper.

Gray bit his lip guiltily, remembering the hell he had put his wife through during the years he spent trying to get his shit together and figure out his emotions. He had hurt her.

“…Yes. And that proves that they’ll just hurt you.”

“But now you and mom are married, with a family.”

“That’s not the point, wait—who is this boy you’re talking about anyway?”

Gwen looked sheepishly at the ground, debating about whether or not to tell him. She could never lie to her parents, but she was good at keeping secrets. Luckily, she was saved by the bell (literally) and ran out of the room as soon as the doorbell rang throughout the house.

“I’ll tell you later, you’re busy,” She sang as she floated up the stairs and away from the argument that was sure to follow.

Gray groaned and rubbed his temples, a headache starting to form underneath them. The doorbell rang again.

“Hello?” He lazily greeted the visitor once he opened the door.

“Gray,” Natsu was on the other side, looking very desperate, “we need to talk about something.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter twooooo! Please feel free to leave kudos and comments requesting any one shots or chapter ideas!

“Oh, Natsu, welcome,” Juvia walked into the living room carrying Ur on her hip. The sight before her was not an ordinary one, nor was it expected. Natsu was pacing around in circles, trying his best to remain calm, and Lucy was clinging on to her husband’s arm, trying to get him to sit down. Gray, sitting in an armchair next to the fireplace, was very confused.

“Hi, Juvia,” Lucy said almost apologetically.

“What’s going on?” She asked, sitting down in the chair next to Gray’s. The ice mage reached over and picked up his son.

“Dada!” The boy said, throwing his arms around him. Gray smiled.

“They just came in here saying they needed to tell us something, but then Natsu had a breakdown.” Gray answered Juvia’s question. The rain woman sighed and leaned back in her chair, trying to relax.

“I know how he feels,” Juvia laughed, “I feel like I’m being pulled in a thousand directions; Azur is at a friend’s house, Gwen’s having a crisis, and this one,”—she pointed at the toddler, who was tugging at Gray’s hair—“is crying whenever I try and change him.”

Natsu was just about to say something as he paced, but Lucy grabbed his arm before he got the chance.

“Natsu, I am pregnant and you are annoying me. _Sit_. _Down_.” Lucy snapped, yanking him by his ear. The Salamander sighed and looked Gray dead in the face.

“Natsu has something to tell you.” Lucy said.

“Okay?” Gray raised an eyebrow. Ur attempted to do the same by scrunching up his face. Juvia laughed a little at the sight.

“Um, so I am going to tell you something and I want you to have an open mind.” Natsu said mostly to Gray, knowing that Juvia would be overjoyed that the two families would be somewhat connected.

“Okay, Natsu, you’re scaring me now. You’ve never brought anything like this up bef—“

“So you know my son, Ig?”

“Yeah, why?”

“And your daughter, Gwen?”

“Um,  _yes_.”

Natsu took a deep breath before plunging into his final statement;

“Well Ig came to me this morning and said that he had a maybe date and he wanted to impress whoever he was taking because she was into romantic stuff and he seemed really self-conscious which is weird for him because normally he’s a pretty bold guy so I asked him who he wanted to go out with and he blushed and didn’t want to tell me but then I threw a fireball at him and he told me it was Gwen.”

Gray blinked and the room was quiet for about three seconds before he and Lucy started yelling at the same time;

“Your son wants to date my daughter?!”

“YOU THREW A FIREBALL AT OUR SON?”

Natsu tried very hard to blend into the couch while receiving the death glare from both his wife and best friend.

“Whoa, whoa, so that’s what this morning was about?” Gray backed up a little, rethinking about the way Gwen asked a “totally hypothetical, not actually serious” question about if and when she was allowed to date.

“This is wonderful!” Juvia suddenly exclaimed, clapping. “Lucy, don’t you think so too?”

The hormonal blonde was still yelling at her husband for nearly setting her son on fire, but turned to smile in agreement.

“I do think that, and so does Natsu!” She chirped. Natsu nodded. “Ig is great, and we wanted to tell you that nothing wrong or bad would happen to her if she gets involved with him.”

Gray wanted to throw himself off of a cliff.

“Okay, look. I know that all of you think this is great, but they’re so young and innocent and just not  _ready_.” He tried to sound strong while defending his point.

“Dad, I am ready, that’s what I’ve been trying to  _tell_  you,”

The whole group turned around and faced the topic of conversation herself leaning against the door frame.

“Oh, hello, Gwen!” Natsu greeted her from inside of the couch he was still trying to hide in. She smiled back at him and waved.

“Hi,” She replied.

Gray hoisted the blabbering Ur onto his hip and stood up, walking over to the girl steadily. He wasn’t mad, he was just plain confused.

“So the boy you ‘hypothetically’ wanted to go out with is Igi?”

Gwen gulped and nodded guiltily.

“I-I was hoping you wouldn’t find out this way…” She addressed both of her parents. Gray looked very tense at this statement—way too tense than normal—so to help him out, Gwen reached out and took Ur. The baby giggled at the exchange and bounced around.

“Gen!” He sang, nuzzling his face into her side. She smiled weakly at the horrible pronunciation of her name.

“Gwen, neither of us is mad at you,” Juvia stood by Gray and wrapped a reassuring arm around his waist. “We’re just protective.”

“Protective of what?” She asked. Natsu jolted upright and narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah, what do you think he’ll do?”

Gray really wanted that cliff right now.

“I’m the father of a girl, Natsu,” He groaned in irritation, “you don’t know what that’s like. You have two sons, and that’s great, but when it comes to my daughter I feel like no man on the face of Earthland can be trusted, or even deserve her.”

It was Lucy’s turn to argue now.

“You think that being a mom is any better?” She challenged, “I am constantly afraid that some bitch will come along and destroy my son, or worse—have an even worse bitch take him away from me. Meaning his soul mate. After that, he’ll never talk to me again. Boys pull away quicker. Am I right, Juvia?”

“Damn straight,” She agreed. Immediately after that statement was said, Ur opened his tiny mouth and tried to copy the two mothers in the room,

“Damm! Bish!”

“Crap!” Juvia and Lucy cursed at the same time, regretting the word as soon as it slipped off of their lips.

“Cwap!” Ur repeated. The girls screamed. Gwen and Natsu both started to laugh while Gray facepalmed. This day would never end, and seriously where the hell was that cliff?!

“No, no! Bad words!” Juvia rushed to her son and stole him away, hustling him into the kitchen with Lucy by her side.

Gwen was still giggling after the three of them had been left alone, and Gray couldn’t help but stare at her.

“This is what I don’t want gone,” He muttered, “I don’t want a guy to break your heart. Then your smile will disappear.”

Natsu leaned back into the couch and turned his head so he was looking at Gray.

“I swear on my life that Ig will never hurt her.” He promised, “He’s too good.”

Gwen nodded.

“So?”

Gray bit his lip and groaned again, trying hard not to back out of this (probably horrible) decision.

“I will let you go out with him as long as you’re totally and completely honest with me and your mothe–” He was interrupted by his daughter hugging him so tightly around the waist that it was hard to breathe.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” She breathed. Natsu sent a grateful look to the ice mage.

…

Later that night, after everyone had gone home and eaten, Gwen decided to go practice magic in her room. She loved her room, she had decorated it herself with ice crystals and ornaments hanging around on the walls and ceiling. Like her father, cold weather was preferred, so nothing ever melted.

She practically floated up the stairs, humming happily to herself. Juvia, who had just finished putting Ur to bed, sat herself next to Gray on their couch and watched her leave.

“You made her really happy today,” She whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder. He sighed and pulled her closer to that they were lying down next to each other.

“I just love her too much. I don’t want her to hate me for worrying.” He admitted. Juvia laughed quietly.

“She could never hate you. Ever.” She assured him. “You’re such a good dad.”

“Ha! I don’t hold a candle to you; you’re the best mom this world has ever seen.” He kissed her temple.

“Mmm, I love you.” She said quietly, drifting into sleep. Ever since they had been married, Juvia speaking in the third person became inconsistent. Gray didn’t really care either way, but whenever she said “I love you” instead of “Juvia loves you”, it made the words ten times more affective.

“I love you more.”

…

Gwen had been awake for exactly four hours and thirteen minutes before a knock on her window caught her attention. A head of blond hair and a sharp-toothed grin was all she could make out in the darkness, and she knew who it was instantly.

“Ig, what are you doing here?” She whisper yelled as she opened the window as quietly as she could. “My parents are asleep, if they catch you they’ll—“

“It’s okay, they won’t if they’re sleeping, don’t worry.” He laughed a little.

“My mom told me that my dad always used to sneak into her place, and I thought I’d try it.”

Gwen’s stomach flipped and the butterflies already thrashing around were jostled even more.

“So that’s why you’re here?” She asked. He grabbed her hand and she could see exhilaration in his eyes.

“Will you go out on a date with me?”

“Of course!”

He flashed another striking grin in her direction.

“Great. Let’s go.”

She couldn’t stop the squeal of excitement that came next. She had no reason not to go with him; she got permission from her father and everything.

“O-okay,” She nodded and let herself be pulled out of the window.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter three! Yay!

Natsu had a good nose. He was proud of it. He could smell things from yards away, especially things he knew well. He could also tell when familiar scents were missing. So that night, when the normal aura in his home took a different turn, he knew it right away.

“Lucy,” He groaned at first, sitting up in his and Lucy’s bed. It was late at night, if not that then it was very early in the morning.

“Mmm?” She said sleepily. Since she was tense, she slept pretty lightly and could hear her husband’s distress through her half-awake state.

“Something’s wrong,” He was now fully awake, and he staggered out of the bed awfully quickly for someone who had only gotten roughly two hours of sleep. Lucy propped her head up in her right hand to see him better.

“Natsu, what is it?” She yawned.

“Something’s wrong,” He repeated, emphasizing the words. “It doesn’t feel right in this house.”

“Mama?”

A small voice brought their attention over to the doorframe, where Jude stood with tears running down his face. Lucy snapped into her protective mode and physically shook herself awake.

“Sweetie, what is it?” She asked. The small boy looked troubled as he spoke, as if he were thinking very hard about each of the words before they actually came out of his mouth.

“I… I could not sleep.” He said. Natsu smiled in spite of himself when he saw how cute his kid was even when he was crying. Scooping up his son and bringing him over to Lucy on the bed, he tried to pry further into the beginnings of Jude’s story.

“Why not?” Natsu asked him, warming his hands and soothingly rubbing his back to calm him down. It worked for both of his children whenever they couldn’t sleep.

“It is c-cold upstairs,” He continued. Natsu paused.

“Do you know why it is cold upstairs, Jude?” Lucy chimed in. Jude looked scared that he had given away too much valued information and refused to answer her.

“Jude,” Natsu’s voice was soft, “you can tell us.”

“Igi told me to keep it secret. Igi told me that mama and dad would get mad at me if I told.”

“We won’t be mad, we promise.” Lucy assured him.

“Igi forgot to close the window. I saw him trying to leave and he yelled at me, he made me p-promise not to tell.”

Natsu didn’t need any more hints than that, though, because after the word “Igi” was spoken, everything made sense, and he was out of the room and up the stairs in two seconds flat. He had left Lucy and Jude alone in the room together.

He shivered when he reached the top floor and cursed when his bare feet hit the floor, hating the sting of the chill rushing through him. How did Gray stand this? It was bad enough living in a house that was pretty much negative a million degrees, but ice magic must have been the rotten cherry on top of the rock hard frozen Sunday.

Natsu reached Ig’s room and opened the door quickly, another cold gust of wind blowing straight at him. It was a cold night, and that meant that there was probably going to be snow. Natsu would not have known this if not for the open window and his missing child the opening of the door had revealed.

“Well, well, well,” He muttered, leaning against the doorframe, “look who’s taking after his father?”

The first thing Natsu did when he realized Ig had ran away was run back downstairs to his wife and other child (who was, at the moment, his favorite) to break the news.

“Lucy!” He cried as he burst through the door, “Ig is gone, but I think I know where he is.”

…

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Gray, in the midst of a wonderful sleep, was woken up by a faint sound coming from down the hallway. He was 57% sure he had just imagined it, so he nestled himself back next to Juvia again. No one normally visited them at 1:00AM.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

Juvia stirred in her sleep and Gray stilled, silently begging whoever was here not to bother them again.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

“Gray Sama,” Juvia cleared her throat a little and rolled onto her side so she was facing him. “There is someone here…”

“Shh, go back to sleep,” He pulled her closer to him. Despite his wishes, she tried to sit up.

“But what if they need to tell us something important?” She yawned.

“Let them leave,” He mumbled, kissing the top of her head and closing his eyes. Humming lightly, she returned the kiss to his cheek.

“I have to go see.” She coughed a little. Gray felt the covers jostle as she hopped out of the bed and make her way down the hallway. He groaned and chose to do the manly thing; to get up and follow her, even if he was insanely tired. Ur had been keeping them awake nearly every night, and even minute long naps were much appreciated.

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBA—

“What?!” Gray swung the door open and narrowly missed Natsu’s fist swinging at him for another knock. Juvia, however didn’t.

“NATSU!” Gray whisper-shouted as to not wake up his kids. Natsu gasped and covered his mouth feeling utterly terrible for now two different reasons.

“Juvia, are you okay?” He asked. Gray held up a hand, signaling for him not to come any closer.

“Juvia will be okay, she’s fine,” She sniffled, trying to hold it together long enough for her to walk into another room. Gray saw the signals. One more minor disaster and she would lose it. As if on cue, the disaster showed itself, disguised as a baby crying.

Ur was screaming at the top of his lungs in the next room, and Juvia collapsed on the couch in a fit of tears. She had been awake for days, her daughter had been rebelling, she had just been punched, and she hadn’t been to the guild hall in weeks. It was time for a breakdown.

“Juvia wants to sleep!” She sobbed, “Juvia wants Ur to stop crying so that she can sleep!”

Gray was staring daggers at Natsu while he tried to comfort his wife.

“Juvia, come here, it’s gonna be okay. I’ll calm him down, and you take a nap, okay?”

“Juvia doesn’t want to burden Gray Sama anymore; she’s such a bad mother,”

“No, you’re not; you just need rest, that’s all.”

“Juvia doesn’t  _deserve_  rest…”

This went on for a few minutes until the water mage finally found her way back to sleep in her bedroom and let Gray take over.

“Natsu, just… Natsu, why?” Gray asked almost in disbelief that the man was still standing at his door.

“I have news.” He choked out. Gray motioned for him to come in.

“You punched my wife.” He reminded him. Natsu bit his lip.

“Yes, I will make it up to her, but I need you to check and see if Gwen is still here.”

Gray paused.

“Why wouldn’t Gwen be here?” He asked.

“Because Ig left the house late at night, and it’s warmer in here than usual.” He answered.

Gray took notice to the air around him, and realized that he was sweating. It was very cold outside, cold enough to snow; but Gray was an ice mage, and his house was normally frozen solid. The only reason why the house could turn warmer was if a window was open.

His eyes widened in realization.

“Oh, no,” He said slowly, shutting his eyes.

“I’ll go check if she’s in her room, and you get Ur to shut up, and then we’ll try and find them.” Natsu planned. Gray surprised himself by agreeing with him, and they both went in separate directions.

Gray walked into Ur’s nursery and watched the small child calm down when he laid eyes on him.

“Hey, little guy,” Gray smiled and scooped him up in the crook of his arm. Ur was still crying.

“Shh, shh, baby, daddy’s here.” He noticed that the room was warmer than it usually was, thanks to Gwen and her crazy boyfriend associate. Ur wasn’t used to warmth. Gray cooled his hands so that a thin layer of soft ice was covering them, and gently ran them over Ur’s forehead and stomach; the baby soon stopped crying and smiled, slowly closed his eyes and drifted to sleep in his father’s arms.

Natsu had softly come down stairs again after checking the room, and waited by the door for his friend to finish. He couldn’t help but feel a mixture of happiness and pride while watching him.

The feeling soon was replaced with the anxiety he had been feeling before.

“Gray,” He whispered, “she’s not there.”

…

The two dad’s had rushed out of the Fullbuster’s house as fast as Natsu had arrived there. Since Juvia was resting and desperately needed sleep (as did Gray, though he felt like he ought to step in as hero in this scenario), Gray had taken the sleeping Ur with them.

“Maybe they’re at the guild hall,” Natsu suggested, “they’ve always hung out there before.”

Gray nodded and let the Salamander lead him to the familiar Fairy Tail guild, where all of their friends were hanging out. The first person they saw when they opened the door was the usual flame, Erza. She and Jellal were there with their eighteen year old son Simon, and her seventeen year old daughter Belle. All four of them were sitting at the bar, talking about something that, in the moment, didn’t seem as important as their current crisis.

“Erza,” Natsu gasped, rushing over to her, “have you seen Ig or Gwen? They snuck out.”

The redhead looked up at him, confused.

“Snuck out? Together?” She asked. Gray’s jaw clenched as he thought about it.

“Yeah, I know.”

He had expected Erza’s mama-bear side to show then, for her to jump out of her chair and start yelling about how inappropriate this whole thing was. However, her girly side decided to come out instead.

“I knew this would happen, congratulations!” She smiled, “Your children are eloping!”

“WHAT?” Gray shrieked, covering Ur’s ears as best as he could to keep him from waking up.

“They’re running away together,” She clarified. Gray almost fainted.

“No, mom, Ig may be a blockhead, but even he has more manners than to marry a girl without the father’s permission.” Belle chimed in. She was beautiful, with violet hair and dark brown eyes. Metalia, one of the Redfox twins, was sitting next to her.

“Yeah, he’s pretty, but not inconsiderate.” She agreed with her. Her twin brother, Carter, if he was there, would have also thought the same. But he was busy training with Gajeel in the woods. Both of the twins had become dragon slayers, but their younger sister Jem had found scripture magic a hell of a lot more interesting.

Belle had taken up her mother’s magic, while her brother had her father’s.

“Y-yeah, I mean, Gwen would never even agree to such a thing, anyway, right?” Gray mumbled quickly, trying to reassure himself. Natsu nodded sharply.

“Yes.” He agreed. “We just need to find them.”

“Well I’m afraid you’re out of luck, looking here.” Jellal said. He put an arm over Erza’s shoulder and shot them each warm smiles.

“But I’m sure you’ll find them, and if not, they’ll turn up tomorrow.”

Gray sighed and began to walk away before remembering that he still had Ur with him, and he could wake up at any moment. He thought it would be best to leave him somewhere that wasn’t filled with drunken people.

 “Erza, are you leaving anytime soon?” He asked. She shook her head no, but Simon raised a hand signaling the opposite.

“I’m heading out, why?”

Simon was, like his entire family, very attractive. He had a muscular build and shaggy dark blue hair that fell over his light eyes. Like his father, he had decided to get a tattoo on his face—but instead of the markings that Jellal had, he settled for the Fairy Tail guild stamp.

“I really hate asking this, but do you think that you could watch Ur tonight? I’d pick him up in a few hours.” Gray immediately felt guilty when the words slipped out, but the guilt increased tenfold when Mae snuck up behind Simon and wrapped her arms around his waist, saying;

“Ready to go?”

Mae, the gorgeous, platinum blonde poster girl of the generation, was the daughter of Mirajane and Laxus, and was around the same age as her boyfriend. The two of them had been dating for well over two years.

“Oh, you know what, never mind, I can find someone else to—“

“What? What is it?” Mae asked, feeling like she had interrupted something important.

“Gray was wondering if I could watch Ur for a few hours.” Simon said.

“Oh, that’s totally fine! We’ll do it!” She chirped, smiling with perfect white teeth. Simon smiled.

“Really?” Gray was surprised at how easily their plans could change.

“Yeah, you never ask for help, so it’s fine.” Simon said. Mae reached out and gently took the baby from the ice mage, being careful not to wake him.

“Thank you both so much, I will make it up to you, I swear.”

“Don’t worry about it, now go find Gwen and Ig before this situation gets worse.” Simon waved him off and Gray smiled sheepishly before running after Natsu to try and find their kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are much appreciated :)


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter four!

“Ig, where are we even going?” The young ice wizard asked, fiddling with the hem of her knee-length black dress. Gwen had been asking Ig this same question for the past half hour, expecting a response other than:

“You’ll see,”

Even though she had known Ig her entire life, he never stopped surprising her; which was why she had to keep asking and getting put off—it just encouraged her excitement. She recalled in that moment her birthday three years previously, when Ig had “forgotten” what day it was. She was disappointed until she walked into the guild hall just to see a huge surprise party dedicated just for her, and her best friend standing right next to the cake, a cheeky grin on his face.

Ig loved it when Gwen got frustrated; he thought that she looked adorable. Her lips always pursed together, and a light crimson blush would cover her pale cheeks as she did her best to try and figure out whatever she was thinking about—in this case, the destination of their first official date.

“Please tell me?” She begged, hanging on his arm. He smiled and leaned into her touch. In his mind, as he visualized them together and blushed, they looked like a real couple.

“Why tell you if I could just show you?”

“Ugh,”

He kept leading her on until the two of them walked off of the road and made their way through the woods. The trees were tall and the path was dark and sketchy—so Gwen made sure to keep her guard up to make sure all of this wasn’t just some prank.

“Gah,” Ig frantically pushed away the brush he kept tripping over so that Gwen wouldn’t fall as they walked on. He couldn’t see anything.

“Why not make a flame so we can see?” She suggested softly, humor in her tone.

“Oh,” He laughed and shamefully glanced downwards; embarrassed that he hadn’t thought of it before. “Y-yeah, you’re right,”

Ig stopped in his tracks. He used the arm that Gwen wasn’t gripping onto and whipped it out in front of him professionally, a golden burst of fire erupting out of his fingertips and producing a light yellow hue.

“Is that better, Miss Fullbuster?” He teased. She grinned.

“Why yes, Mr. Dragneel.”

They clumsily walked the rest of the way, stumbling now and then over rocks and logs that were invisible until noticed. Finally, much to Gwen’s relief and pleasure, Ig stopped and looked over at her with excitement and said:

“We’re here!”

Gwen’s clear blue eyes widened as she looked up through the gold light and saw a cute little pond. It was small and simple, surrounded by the trees to make the area seem hidden from the rest of the world. Rocks of all different sizes scattered themselves around the water and on the small sandy section just before it. It was a little cove.

“I wanted to find a hill or something, but my dad and Happy had already done that. I wanted this to be original, you know?” Ig shrugged.

“It’s beautiful,” Gwen smiled brightly and slipped her hand down his arm so that she was holding his hand. Immediately, Ig grinned and pulled her down towards the sand. They seated themselves down near the water.

“I brought some food,” Ig exclaimed, reaching for a small black drawstring bag he had been carrying on his back. “It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing, right?”

“Meat, fish, and strawberries?” Gwen giggled as she looked inside. “I feel like I’m right inside the Dragneel family kitchen!”

“The berries are my mom’s…” He admitted.

“Hey! She’s pregnant! Don’t steal from someone who’s pregnant—I’ve learned the hard way that it never ends well.” She playfully smacked him in the arm with a fish and then tossed it into his open hand.

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow, “do explain,”

“When my mom was pregnant with Ur, I once took her box of teas for some reason. When she found out the culprit was me, she went ballistic.” She sighed and popped a strawberry in her mouth.

“Ur’s a cute kid. He’s loud, but he’s cute.” Ig responded.

“Jude is cute, too.” Gwen said. “He looks a lot like you.”

“Then he’s a lucky guy,” Ig smirked and let himself get smacked again.

“Don’t be like that,” She laughed, “it’s true, but don’t be like that.”

…

Natsu and Gray had looked all over Magnolia trying to find their kids, and with Natsu’s nose it was near impossible not to have found a trail. They did find one, but it died out as soon as they reached the woods.

“I swear on Mavis’ grave, if your son kidnapped my daughter and is holding her hostage in these woods I will beat the shit out of him.” Gray clenched his fists. Natsu (who was actually surprisingly calm) shrugged and seemed genuinely confused.

“I doubt he’s smart enough to think he’d get away with that, so it’s probably not a possibility at this point.” He replied. Gray’s mouth fell open in disbelief.

“How can you be so calm about this? Your son is missing and all you can do is stand there and not worry?” He shouted. Natsu turned back around and narrowed his eyes.

“You don’t think I’m worried?” He asked, “I am very worried. I actually am so worried that I sent Happy out over two hours ago, before I came to you, to search for them as well with a bird’s eye view. I’m so worried that I physically can’t think of anything else at the moment besides finding my son, which is why I’m doing the best I can to track him down, so if you have some kind of problem with how I’m doing that, then go home. I’m fine on my own.”

Gray backtracked and sighed. He had never really heard Natsu snap at him like that in years, and he was ashamed to say that the harshness of his tone put him in his place.

“I’m sorry,” He stammered and covered his eyes with his hand. “I’m just done.”

“Done with what?” Natsu questioned, sitting down. Gray sat next to him.

“Done with constantly being terrified about losing everything.” He admitted, “I know you don’t care, so I’ll spare you the details, but—“

“I care,” The dragon slayer interrupted, “I get it. You’ve lost so much and to finally have everything you wanted all of your life overwhelms you. I get it. I always wanted a family. Fairy Tail was one for me, and Lucy was the thing I needed most. Now I have Ig and Jude and another one on the way, and it feels too good to be true.”

“Igneel really screwed you up as a kid, huh?” Gray whispered.

“The same way Deliora did you,” He shot back. “I know about all of that, you know. Everyone does.”

“I know. I’ve known for a while.”

“But if you finally have the life you want, why are you holding back?” Natsu asked quietly. This was a very delicate situation, and despite his bold exterior, Natsu could sense when he had to be careful with his word choice.

“Look, Natsu, my family died. My old friends—all of my friends—were murdered by Deliora. My foster mother and master sacrificed herself for me. My foster mother’s daughter also sacrificed herself for me. My dad miraculously came back to life just to die again—and I can’t live with any more loss. I don’t want my family to live through the same pain as I did. That’s why I’m so protective of my kids and of Juvia.”

 Natsu looked down at the ground and nodded curtly, not needing to hear anything else.

“I get it,” He breathed, “I get it.”

“NATSU! GRAY!”

A high pitched voice called from up above them and broke the uncomfortable mood. Happy was here.

“Happy!” Natsu cried joyfully, “Did you find them?”

“Yes, I did!” He flew down to them and landed on the ground next to Gray, who picked him up roughly and aggressively asked:

“Where? And what was going on?”

“Well they’re in the woods near a pond, and they’re eating stuff,” Happy said simply, “it wasn’t anything bad, they were just hanging out, I think.”

“Okay, thanks,” Gray let go of him and jumped to his feet with Natsu hot on his trail. “Lead us to them.”

…

“So ‘Nette,” Ig turned himself so that he was facing the small girl, “I am fully aware of what your dad’s and mom’s magic can do. But what about yours?”

“What do you mean? I’m an ice mage, like my dad.” She answered. She was lying on her stomach with her face propped up on her folded arms, leaning over the water. Ig nodded.

“Yes, but your magic is different than his. Like him and his friend, um… what’s his name… L- L something,”

“Lyon?”

“Yeah, him. They’re both ice mages, but each kind is different.”

“I see what you’re saying,” She smiled and looked up at him. “You and your dad are both fire dragon slayers, yet his fire is mostly red and orange, while yours is golden.”

Ig nodded.

“For me,” Gwen continued, “since I’m not only an ice mage, but made of water as well, it’s easy for me to manipulate the elements whenever I wish it.”

“Please, demonstrate,” Ig pointed to the water and folded his arms against his chest. She sat up on her knees and ran her right hand over the liquid, coating her arm in the water. It was almost like it was stuck to her.

Then, she pooled it all into her left hand, forming a giant orb that didn’t spill out of the cracks between her fingertips. Then, with a sudden movement from her other hand, it completely froze in her palm.

“Wow,” Ig said, but she wasn’t done.

With another movement, she turned the inside of the ice sphere back into water again, leaving the outside circle still intact. The fluid sloshed around inside of its barrier, yet her left hand wasn’t moving.

“I can control the water,” She explained, her eyes moving back and forth in synch with the direction of the waves, commanding them to do whatever she wished. “And I can form it into anything I want,”

Suddenly, she clutched the ice in her hand and threw it directly at her friend—stopping it only millimeters away from his nose.

“Smile pretty,” She giggled and he did, right before she gently turned the ice back into water and coated his face with it. Once she was done, she pulled the sculpture back and froze it.

“It’s a mask!” She said excitedly. Ig gazed at her in awe and sprung upright to go sit next to her.

“It’s amazing!” He cried. “Why don’t you just use that for magic?”

She looked at the ice in her hands and gently placed it into the pond, reverting it into its original state.

“Because I like using ice make more for fighting. This is art, and it’s beautiful, so it shouldn’t be used for destruction.” She sighed, “Ice make is fun.”

“I bet,” Ig replied, “you’re really good at it.”

“I’m not as good as you are,” She blushed, “you’re a master dragon slayer.”

“Not yet I’m not—I won’t be until I successfully beat all of the others.” He clenched his fist.

“That’s some goal,” Gwen laughed softly.

Ig glanced down at her smiling face and felt his heart beat faster.

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”

She moved back until she was sitting next to him, her shoulder touching his, and placed her head on his shoulder.

They sat like that for a long time, until Gwen had drifted off to sleep, and it wasn’t until then that Ig slowly reached for her hand again. That moment—he thought—was the best one he had in a long time.

That is, until he saw his father and Gray Fullbuster making their way to their hiding place, their eyes blazing and their fists clenched.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr @mangaplease   
> Thank you for reading!!


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